Put a wee scary festive touch in your party with a black Halloween tree!

For both kids and adults, Halloween is one fun holiday, where everyone can 'let down their hair' and don costumes designed to scare, be goofy, funny or lovely. Over the years you've been hosting Halloween parties, one trendy idea has taken hold in a big way: a black Halloween tree can make a big splash as a tabletop centerpiece for viewing, or even eating! Let's take a look at a few of the imaginative ways you can work the spooky black Halloween tree into your party décor.

One of the best edible versions comes in the form of a cake. You can use yellow cake mix, perhaps enhanced with a few drops of food color swirled into the ready-to-bake mix. Another idea kids especially favor is that of a green cake – just add a drop or two of blue food color until the desired shade of green is achieved. The frosting is where you really make the statement.

Using chocolate frosting, just add a drop or two of both blue and red, until the frosting is transformed into a rich black. Use a small (new) crafts brush to paint your black Halloween tree on to the cake – it comes out best when you paint thin, scary looking branches such as you might see in a good horror movie. (For each new color, use a fresh crafts brush to avoid having colors run.) Leave a larger space on the thicker part of the tree trunk in which to paint – with white frosting – a face that would scare you were you to be walking in the woods … add a ghosty friend or two and you're almost there. The tree roots can extend down the sides of the cake, if you wish. With your remaining white frosting, add a couple of drops of yellow and one of red food coloring to get a nice, rich orange color. Sprinkle with 'candy corn' and you've got a ghoulish black Halloween tree everyone can enjoy.

Crafts stores often carry foam or plastic trees in a variety of sizes, from table centerpiece sizes to full-blown sizes suitable for sitting in a corner of the dining room or patio. Simply spray paint the tree black and decorate with 'ornaments' made of lollipops, cookies from the bakery or even hand-decorated doilies with construction paper centers painted with florescent markers.

To add a little extra pizzazz to your black Halloween tree, you can use edible glitter – both gold and silver work well – as a special effect. As Halloween décor goes, the black Halloween tree is here to stay, appreciated by kids of all ages!